DELETED SCENE Awry (Nate & Tristan in the Kitchen)

(This scene came just after Scarlet asked the guys to use a Head Ghost on her to retrieve her memory of the fountain of youth.)

Tristan watched Scarlet's cheeks tint with fury as she grabbed her coat.

“All of you are
impossible,”
she said, spinning on her heel and heading for the door.

She wanted help extracting memories from her brain with an unstable
memory device. Like hell that was going to happen.

Gabriel
followed after Scarlet, trying to sooth her over with sweet words and promises and other bullshit that would no doubt only infuriate her more. But best of luck to him anyway.

Left alone in the kitchen with Nate, Tristan
stretched his neck and shifted in his seat at the counter.

Nate stood and stared at him for a moment. “You were pretty quiet just
now.”

“Yeah, well. Gabriel kind of made
it clear he doesn’t want me 'interacting' with Scarlet.” Tristan made air quotes around the word his twin had used.

"Does 'interacting' involve naked time?" Nate made his own air quotes. "Because if so, I'm with Gabriel."

"No." Tristan thought for a moment, his thoughts straying to Scarlet's mouth, her neck...her hot, naked skin... He gave his head a quick shake. "No. Naked time isn't even an option." Dammit. He continued, "Gabriel's freaked out because my touch can kill her and lately she's
been...interested in me." Tristan tugged at his shirt collar. "He's afraid she's going to
trip and fall on top of me, and instantly explode or something."

Nate raised a brow. "Yeah. I'm sure that's what he's worried about."

Tristan ran frustrated hands through his hair. “I just need to lay
low for a little while and let Scarlet and Gabriel do their thing.”

Nate leaned against the counter. “And what thing would that be?”

Tristan cracked his knuckles. “The
thing where they fall in love and everything is right with the world.” A slow, familiar tightness began to wrap around his chest.

Nate sighed and twitched his lips in sympathy. "I don't envy you, man. Not at all."

Tristan ignored the comment, hating Nate's sympathy almost as much as he hated the curse itself.

A few strained moments passed, filled by the sound of the front door slamming and Gabriel marching up the stairs. Clearly, his coddle-and-soothe-Scarlet plan had backfired.

Tristan bit back a smile.

Nate cleared his throat. "So...about the arrow that can kill immortals...."

"Nope." Tristan leaned back in his seat.

"I need you to give it back.”

“Not gonna
happen.”

Nate rolled his eyes. “Come on,
man. You can’t be trusted with it.”

“And you can?”

“Uh, yeah.” Nate made a face. “Raise your hand if you haven’t tried to commit suicide in the
last five centuries with a magical arrow.”

Nate raised his arm.

Tristan pursed his lips.

“See?” Nate dropped
his arm. “You can’t be trusted.”

“I’m not
giving it back, Nate.”

Nate hung his head and groaned. “Do
I have to start hiding everything?
First, Scarlet's ring. Then the
arrow. And now--apparently--I'll have to hide the Head Ghosts because Scarlet's all pro-brainwash." Shaking his head, Nate muttered. “I’m
surrounded by a bunch of kleptomaniacs.”